Officials testified at the Committee Hearing on migrant smuggling and trafficking issues of the u. S. Mexico border. This portion begins with the swearing in of witnesses and their opening statements. It is just under one hour. It is the tradition of this committee to swear in witnesses. If you will stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear that the testimony who have given before this committee will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god . You can be seated. Our first witness is mr. Brian hastings. Mr. Hastings currently serves as the chief on question operations in the u. S. Border patrol headquarters in washington, d. C. Mr. Hastings . Mr. Hastings thank you. It is my honor to represent the men and women of Border Patrol before you today as they are hard at work addressing the Current Crisis on the border. Interdicting illegal aliens, drugs, cash and weapons at the border is a key component of u. S. Border security, and by extension, our National Security. Cartels and other Transnational Criminal Organizations, or tcos, are a threat that requires governance of strategy and in aggressive approach across government. I am sorry to report the Country Vision to this government effort is currently strained, as we are forced to devote 40 to 60 of our manpower to the humanitarian flow that serves as a lucrative business for smuggling organizations. We are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of apprehensions and cannot conduct indepth interviews that provide intelligence on smuggling and trafficking networks. We are distracted with the nearly 200 large groups apprehended. Trafficking organizations are using these opportunities to get narcotics and aliens into the country seeking to evade Law Enforcement organizations. Simply put, the humanitarian crisis has forced us to put Border Security and National Security at risk. They conduct illicit operations without regard for human life. Smugglers control where and how aliens cross our border, putting lives at risk. In the del rio sector alone, Border Patrol rescues have risen from 44 individuals all of last year, to over 400 so far this year. Smugglers are often placing children in nothing more than makeshift rafts or pool toys to pass the rio grande river. On multiple occasions smugglers , have pushed adults and children out of these rafts, wouldg that agents prioritize preservation of life, while the smugglers swim back to mexico to evade arrest. Border patrol agents have rescued more than 3400 people in distress along the border. They have saved nearly 2500 people in tractortrailers. Earlier this month, agents saved 14 people from a locked and unventilated trailer compartment that measured 124 degrees. All these people paid smugglers to bring them into this country and nearly paid with their lives. Others were not so fortunate. This past weekend in the Rio Grande Valley an extensive , search effort was made when subjects reported they had left several children who died north of the border. Sadly, on sunday night, agents recovered the bodies of three children and one adult in the thick brush. Unfortunately, i know that these will not be the last tragic deaths we will encounter. Summer temperatures are increasing, and we continue to see a high volume of families and children across the border. Border patrol has apprehended 664,000 illegal aliens on our southwest border this year. A nearly 140 increase compared to the same timeframe last year. While june is beginning to show decline thatonal we expect in the summer months, we are still setting record highs. Just three weeks into the month, we have already surpassed the apprehension level since 2007. The flow overflows resources. We have made investments into care, including consumables, medical support, and transportation. We have requested additional funds into the supplemental for this purpose as well. We have been forced to direct manpower away from our Border Security mission simply to keep pace with the high level of apprehensions. We have detailed agents we have , shutdown checkpoints and hold agents from task forces, canceled leave and other actions. We have significantly reduced the time families spend an hour custody after processing. With more than 96,000 family thisrs released so far, currently represents over 60 of the apprehensions but only about 25 of those in custody. Together with our partners, we have reduced the number of people in order patrol custody from the peak of 19,000 in may to 12,000 13,000 today. Of significant concern are the single adults and unaccompanied children that are spending extended time in custody. Our facilities were simply not designed for longterm care and custody. I cannot stress enough the Immediate Impact of funding for ed spacend hhs thab would have for border patro,. In the immediate term, we need congress to provide supplemental funds, but the funding will only do so much without a longterm fix. Irish congress to pass legislative changes that we have oversees 30 heted to reduce field offices. Mr. How. Thank you. Appear before to you. When i last appeared before the committee in april, i described the conditions in our ports of entry, mentioning long wait times. Effectsned the ripple that personnel would have on the trade community. I asked you consider legislation action that would address the crisis. I wish i could tell you that conditions have improved or colleagues no longer required additional manpower. That wehat i could say were able to dedicate our energies towards the mission of National Security, Economic Security and lawful trade and travel. It has not improved. Migrants are entering the ports of entry and more officers have been redirected to assist Border Patrol. The variables are the same. Withcedented people children in large groups and nearly all seeking asylum and arriving without proper documentation. International labor organizations estimate there are 40 million victims of human trafficking. 75 are female and a quarter children. ,ue to our unique position officers play a Critical Role in the effort to stop him trafficking. Earlier this month, officers and arrested the leader of an International Religious organization at Los Angeles International airport, charged with humans trafficking and Forcible Rape of a minor. Because our officers are the travelers people encounter, we are trained to detect signs of humans trafficking. Our interviews are crucial because it determines the reason for the travel. In 2017, officers interviewed a woman from spain who had arrived from paris with a minor child. The woman stated she was a victim of he trafficking and that an organization was forcing her to work as a maid and have sex with men to pay off her debt. The Russian Organization had grown impatient at the rate the debt was being paid off and was sending her to the u. S. To pay the debt off quickly. The womanle to take and child to a shelter for further shelter. And every trafficking situation is straightforward. Launched any initiative to boost awareness about he trafficking in the airline industry. They provide training on recognizing he trafficking and reported to Law Enforcement. Can toverything we intercept humans to intercept the victims of humans trafficking. I thank you for your time and i look forward to your questions. Our final witness is mr. Gregory lovato. Staff andas chief of the deputy director. Good morning. I am honored to appear before you today to represent the more than 8500 brave men and women from u. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to provide ongoinge on the security at the southern border. Witnessed the perils individuals are willing to endure to seek a better life in the u. S. There is no better illustration than in june of 1994 when i encountered 11 stowaways hidden in a vessel in massachusetts. They spent nearly two weeks in the container with limited food and water and only a small hole cut inside for them to breathe. This incident made me appreciate the freedoms we take for granted as well as to treat every person i encountered in the line of duty with dignity and respect. Humans smuggling and he trafficking are conflated as one in the same. I would like to explain the key differences between them. Humans smuggling involves provision of the service or a fee, typically a transportation to an individual who voluntarily seeks to enter a country illegally. Cases and made1 arrests perfume and smuggling. Humans trafficking is a crime involving the exploitation of someone for the purposes of compelled labor or commercial sex act, either a minor through the use of fraud or coercion. Often a dream for the better life where a person is complicit to the act, but becomes a humans traffic event. And rescued cases 20 a victims. Our intelligence indicates desperate my givers desperate migrants paid to be rescued. To put this in perspective, a kilogram of cocaine is estimated at 30,000 u. S. Dollars and is more lucrative for criminal organization to smuggle a person than a narcotic. The key component of our efforts to combat he trafficking is a program that employees and approach by equal value is placed on the identification, rescue, stabilization of the victims. Congressike to thank for appropriating 7. 5 million. This funding will be used to enhance our Victim Assistance Program by hiring 60 employees that will assist us in dealing with a humanitarian crisis along the border. 2019, hsi dedicated 400 personnel to combat this issue. They deploy teams to interview. Ersons hsi has identified 316 fraudulent families, 599 fraudulent documents represented 629 individuals to the department of justice for various violations. 2019, hsiay of initiated a rapid dna Pilot Program in texas. A total of 84 family units were dna tested. 16 family units were found to be fraudulent. Half of the confirm fraudulent family units were identified prior to dna testings when the adults recanted their claim when asked to consent to the test. There was no better case illustration of one of one a 51yearold on during an mail confessed that he was not the father of the infant child initially claimed to be his son, purchased the child for 84. 2019, they began identifying adult migrants and accompanying children who entered as a family unit along the southern border. Hsi is investigating these incidents to determine if these children are being used for the purposes of defrauding the u. S. Without support, we will be unable to sustain this effort. I look forward to answering your questions. Thank you. Normally i throw questions to our committee members, but i have a couple i want to go over quickly. Aboutstings, you talked 13,000 being held in cvb custody. John sanders quoted in the newspaper said the capacity of patrolatrol of border is about 5000. Is that accurate . Yes, sir, that is accurate. 4000 is a healthy number. Even though we brought those we are still sitting at 12,000 to 13,000 a day which is above capacity. That is the capacity of standard stations, correct . You put up military tents . Is that how you expanded capacity . That is, sir. You have seen in el paso where we have been forced to move bodies, transport them out because we are over capacity and that location and transported them in the lower radio sector to process. Laredo sector to process. Being set up in yuma to assist. Youre trying to create the eight files quickly as possible and turn them over to ice . That is the process . You apprehend them, you screen them for medical conditions, take them to hospitals, do everything you can to treat them with as much compassion as possible, but your job is to turn them over to ice . Two things. Yes, we process the family unit and the single adults as quickly as possible. The job is to turn them over to ice. The single individuals with accompanying children, we process them first. What is the roadblock in terms of why you are so over capacity . One is sheer volume. The system is overwhelmed parish of volume alone if you look back historically, 70 to 80 of the arrested, we could easily repatriate immediately back to mexico. Today, we are staying 82 of those we arrest our from somewhere other than mexico, and that population is difficult to repatriate under the current laws that we have. One of the complaints i hear at the border from Border Patrols eyes doesnt have the capacity from Border Patrol is ice doesnt have the capacity. Hhs and we dont have the capacity there either. It is backing right up to Border Patrol, right . It is. Everyone in the entire system is overwhelmed right now. That is absolutely correct. Youre holding these individuals longer than we want to. You do not want to be holdings individuals longer than 72 hours. If we could get rid of them quicker, that would be great. We dont want to be holding kids in detention facilities which were not designed for that. If we had zero in custody, that would be great. Is no incentive, you are not trying to hold children longer than the 72 hours. You would like to turn them over as quickly as possible, it is not possible right now . Capacity. That maximum they need additional funding. You talked about a case where a child was purchased for 84. You also listed a number of different steps in terms of how many people have been apprehended with fraudulent documents. In the scheme of things, and theyre looking at over 400,000 accompanying children coming in as family units. One of the things i was trying to get a sense of is how prevalent that he trafficking ,lement, the sex trafficking the involuntary servitude is within this process. You have limited resources in terms of how many things you can investigate. Ofave heard statistics arrests made. What is your sense of how prevalent this is . Suspicious are you as suspicious as i am . Is your microphone on . Mind, a lotkeep in of times, you dont need a nexus at the border. A smuggling event starts off at the border, but once the person gets in the interior, it often turns into a situation of exploitation with that migrant is charged. Ir families are exploited exported back home to pay off the smuggling debt. Lets go back to the process. I was in el paso, turns him over to a house that butcates them to churches, trying to identify family members or relatives, or some they can be sent to. People by plane and bus tickets buy plane and bus tickets in these people are sent all over the country. Is that is what happening . That is occurring within eight to nine days in general. Yes, sir. In march, we began releasing noncriminal processed families because we were at 19,000, so we began releasing them and working closely with our partners to provide services after release. Border patrol began releasing them, bypassing the step with ice into Nongovernment Organizations . Yes. Our capacity is 19000 and climbing. We began releasing. Migrants give you an address believing they are going to go, correct . Yes, sir. But once you turn them over to a Nongovernment Organization , you dont have any idea where they go . Where they ultimately go after we release them, we dont control where they go or how they get there. And yet, the assumption is they will meet up with some relative. There are a lot of people they know and they have social media, but yet, we are still finding families ins houses. Yes sir. I know two of our members have a markup, so i would defer my questioning. Thank you for the courtesy. Johnsonu to chairman and Ranking Member peters and to all of our witnesses for being here to testify as well as for your service to our country. Those want to make sure of you on the front lines have the resources you need and we want to make sure that you are doing your jobs consistent with american values. That is something we all share. I wanted to start with the question. It would be great if we could have a brief update on drug seizures that are land ports of entry along the u. S. Mexico border. Have we seen an increase of traffic to a particular narcotic over the last six months . Thank you for the question. Our narcotic seizures are on track to match our numbers from last year. Seized date, we have more than 39 pounds of methamphetamines, which is checking in larger than normal. 30,000 pounds of cocaine in nearly 2000 pounds of fentanyl. Thank you. Have fentanyl seizures increased or decreased, what does that tell you about the drug cartelss plans for trade of fentanyl . We are seeing less through our mail facilities, but is trending up slightly at the southern border with the fentanyl. Size of the seizures of fentanyl you just recounted sounded smaller than the other drugs, is still a lot of drugs. How to Border Patrol drug seizure numbers increase . We have noticed hard narcotics are trending up. Cocaine seizures are up and methamphetamine seizures are up, and heroin seizures are up. Seized, 97,000 pounds between the ports of entry this year. 9800 pounds of methamphetamines seized between the ports of entry. Cocaine,ounds of s seized at the port of entry. Thank you for the information. Mr. Hastings, i want to turn to another topic. I understand clearly from my visits to the border, the one i just it was senators the one i just did with several senators and the one i did last year, we are facing a humanitarian and security crisis along the southern border. I agree with you that we need comprehensive reform to reduce the flow of migrants into the u. S. , however, there is no excuse for the reported conditions and Border Patrol facilities that have Child Migrants. Outside lawyers visited a Border Patrol facility in texas where they reported children living in squalor, being denied the ability to shower for weeks at a time, caring for infants just a few years younger than themselves, and being locked in cages for the vast majority of the day. Similar reports of gross mismanagement and horrible conditions have come to light at the